President supports creative arts industry

The President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, has ordered for the release of one million Ghana cedis to the creative arts industry.

The money will be used to improve and enhance the development and growth of the industry.

In an interview at the inauguration of the Tourism Development Fund (TDF) Secretariat in Accra yesterday, the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Mrs Elizabeth Ofosu-Adjare, said the President stated in his State of the Nation Address that he would resource the ministry to enhance its development.

She stated that tourism was the fourth-highest foreign exchange earner for the country and, therefore, the money would be used to develop the creative arts industry to make it more attractive.

At the inauguration, Mrs Ofosu-Adjare stated that the secretariat would not tolerate any act of fraud from the workers because the monies collected into the fund was meant to supplement the government’s budget allocation for the industry.

“This fund will be one of the most transparent funds ever established in the country. The ministry would, therefore, not tolerate any fraudulent acts at the secretariat,” she said.

She urged all tourism establishments to settle their debts with the TDF and hinted that she would lead the team of administrators to visit the various tourism firms and would not compromise with debtors .

The Administrator of the TDF, Mr Abraham Tetteh, told the Daily Graphic in an interview that the secretariat was there to ensure that all establishments in the tourism industry paid their levies duly and on time.

He said it would be responsible for monitoring and evaluation and this would be done by visiting the establishments to access and audit their books to make sure that they paid the right amount charged for the levy into the fund.

Explaining further, he said the secretariat would also ensure that the proceeds of the fund were used judiciously for the purposes for which it was established.